Posted on 03/11/2003 3:03:57 PM PST by knighthawk
Iran is considering cutting back or even severing diplomatic ties with Argentina after an Argentine judge asked Interpol to detain four Iranians over a deadly 1994 bombing, a government source said on Tuesday, according to Reuters.
The four Iranians, who include a former intelligence minister, are wanted by Argentine authorities in connection with a bomb attack on a Jewish community center in Argentina which killed 85 people.
Iran has long denied any involvement in the attack and insists that no evidence has been presented to connect the four men to the crime. It withdrew its ambassador in protest after being implicated by the Argentine government after the bombing.
"We're looking at a range of responses, from cutting off diplomatic relations entirely to recalling our charge d'affaires, or reducing our staff in Buenos Aires to the bare minimum," the source told Reuters.
He added that Iran had already taken steps to divert its orders for the grain to other suppliers.
Argentina's top diplomat in Tehran, charge d'affaires Ernesto Carlos Alvarez, was summoned to the Iranian Foreign Ministry for the second time in two weeks over the bombing allegations on Saturday.
Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister Ali Ahani told Alvarez that Iran, "does not tolerate such acts and will take appropriate measures... to obtain reparation," the official IRNA news agency reported.
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